Ranger Ghest
by Leanbow
Summary: A new superhero from an alternate Earth has traveled to Corinth, and it isn't long before he gets drawn into the RPM rangers' ongoing conflict with the forces of Venjix. Set in normal RPM continuity, shortly before the series end.
1. Chapter 1

Power Rangers: RPM is owned by Disney and whomever else, which does not include me, but I did create Ghest, his concept and history, and all other Morphozoids mentioned myself. This is my first time writing a story featuring characters I did not create, but the temptation to team up my creation with my favorite superheroes was too inviting. So that nobody asks this later, let me say right here that the word Ghest is pronounced "Geest", and also that anyone interested in learning more about him and his kind's origins can contact me via message.

In an unassuming apartment in Victoria, B.C., Canada, Fries Mahoghan is preparing for his next adventure. A member of the Morphozoid species hailing from the planet Diactalon in a dimension alien from our own, Fries was born with super-human strength and the gift of flight and from an early age has used both to make his world safer from criminals. When those criminals sought to invade Earth, Fries and his team followed with the same intention of keeping justice and safety. For their efforts, and their success, they were praised as heroes and welcomed to live among them.

Fries has taken on the identity of Ghest from his family's dearest friend Gus Tyrone, a man like a father to him. The Ghest suit allows him the use of even more special abilities, notably the use of heat lasers and blades spouting from it's wrists. However, a less common ability that Ghest has is the ability to travel to other dimensions, and that is one talent Fries would like to harness. Clothed in his sleek orange bodysuit with golden chestplate (letter G engraved in the center) and gloves, and his black helmet, Ghest is saying what he hopes are not final goodbyes to his girlfriend Laura Winston, a Morphozoid herself.

"Are you sure you want to try this now, Fries?" Laura asks her man. "Things are finally starting to get quiet after the last attack."

"I would love nothing more than to be with you during our downtime," Ghest begins to answer, "but since things are quiet I should take the time to practice these teleportation skills in case I need them for an emergency."

"I hope there never has to be an emergency that forces you to travel to another dimension, but I guess I can't fault you for wanting to better understand your powers. Your dedication is one of the things I love about you.

"I love you too, and no matter which dimension I go to, nothing will prevent me from finding my way back to you here."

Ghest tightens his fists and closes his eyes. Concentrating hard, he dematerializes from our dimension into another. He waits a moment to make sure his body is completely solid before opening his eyes, and shortly looks around at where he now is. He is outdoors, in front of a warehouse. The buildings he sees look like what he is used to back on Earth, but somehow things just look more worn out here than back home. It's as if battles take place here on a regular basis. He looks up and notices what looks like a generator station suspended in the air. "How could that be possible", he wonders. He considers his next move when a woman's voice calls out to him from behind.

"You there!" Tenaya 15 shouts.

Ghest turns around behind him to see a young woman leading an army of robot soldiers. She looks very much like she's part robot herself.

"An orange ranger now?" Tenaya asks. "Well, if you're here to stop my attack bot then you're a little early."

"Lady, I don't know what an attack bot is." Ghest informs her. "Or a ranger, for that matter."

" Enough. Grinders, attack!"

The soldiers start to attack, but Ghest is more than capable of fighting them off. He takes to the air, leaving the Grinders perplexed as they cannot fly themselves, but quickly returns to the ground to push down several of them on their level. As more surround him, he starts aiming his hands and blasting heatblasts at them. Tenaya herself joins the fray, firing off shots from her blaster at him. He reacts quickly, using his flight and speed to dodge them. She takes out a staff and charges to strike him with it. As she's about to make contact, Ghest raises his arms directly in front of his upper body and calls out the command his uncle Gus taught him.

"Spikes of Fury!"

Golden blades grow out of the wrists of his gloves and block the staff. The two of them go back and forth, each trying to strike and defend from each other.

Elsewhere, others who have been alerted to Ghest's presence are watching. Dr. K is watching the battle on the computer monitor in her lab, as Ziggy Grover looks on.

"Another new ranger?" Ziggy asks her. "Is this going to be a survivor type thing where a new guy arrives and we're forced to vote each other off to make room for him? Because I wouldn't really do well in the immunity challenges, like the one where you have to stand really still on a log while sharks swim around you. Not unless I had my morpher, because my suit makes me look kind of like a shark, so they wouldn't hurt me, but they might mistake me for one of them, which would be fine, except when my skin starts to wrinkle being in the water too long-

"Quiet, Ranger Series Green" Dr. K responds. "This person is not a ranger, as I created no such Series Orange technology. This stranger's identity doesn't match with anyone in the database of Corinth residents, or on Earth before the Venjix attack began. Gather the team, and be prepared to deal with this as a possible threat."

Back at the battle, Tenaya continues to aggressively try to jab Ghest with her staff, but he blocks every strike with his spikes. She tries a new tactic and fires her blaster at the ground beneath him with one hand, and then swings the staff at his stomach with the other. Ghest was caught off guard by this, but it did little to affect his stamina. He quickly lunges his right arm right in her face, thinking that she will instinctively raise the staff to block the blade. She does, and the staff gets sliced in two. He follows that up with a heatblast, but she dodges out of it's way. She fires off a blast from her blaster and Ghest does the same. The blasts connect with each other, sending a quick force wave of wind that knocks both several feet backwards. Neither is harmed.

"We will finish this, but another time" Tenaya says to him. "Venjix' plans must be carried out."

She turns and walks away. Ghest tries to follow, but more Grinders show up and block his path to her.

"More robots, eh?" Ghest exclaims, not thinking anything of using a Canadian expression. "Well, these guys aren't so tough. This shouldn't take me long."

Suddenly, a man wearing a full body green suit on the helmet teleports in right in front of Ghest.

"No, I'm sure it wouldn't," Ziggy tells him. "But fighting these guys is kind of "our thing", so just chill."

"'Our' thing?" questions Ghest.

"Yeah, me and them."

Ghest looks around at the grinders surrounding them as they seem to be flying backwards to the ground. Another man in a blue suit stands above them and joins Ghest and Ziggy.

"Wow. How did you do that?" Ghest asks.

"I froze time for a couple of wee seconds and took care of 'em for ye" Flynn answers.

More Grinders advance towards them.

"Here come more" says Ghest.

"Got it covered" Ziggy reminds him.

A man in a black suit and a girl in yellow leap from behind the rest to the front of the Grinder pack. They both pull out blaster weapons and aim them at their foes.

"Rocket Blaster!" Calls out Dillon.

"Zip charger!" Exclaims Summer.

Dillon's blasts them while Summer's shoots a small vehicle-like projectile at them. A man in red leaps above them carrying a weapon of his own.

"Street Saber!" Scott calls out, as he slashes several Grinders with his sword.

He turns to the rest of the team and asks a question.

"Have you seen Gem and Gemma? They asked us to save some for them, but they took off."

They hear the sound of very large propellers in the air. They look to the sky and two large flying vehicles become the main focus.

"This is totally gonna rock!" exclaims Gemma, from the cockpit of the Tiger Jet. "Ready Gem?"

"Ready Gemma!" He answers from inside the Falcon Copter.

"Brace yourselves, team! Scott warns the others on the ground.

The two aerial zords fire energy blasts at the Grinders below. They never stood a chance, and get caught in a major explosion.

"A little excessive, don't you think?" Ghest questions.

"They just like that sort of thing" Ziggy does his best to explain.

"Uh huh. I think we need to talk".


	2. Chapter 2

Before leaving the battle area, the rangers power their morphers down and de-morph. Ghest chooses to keep his costume on for now, as he does not wish his identity to be discovered in such an open area. This is okay with the rangers and they get into their various cars and motorized vehicles and drive back to their headquarters. Ghest flies along above them. As they pull into their garage, Scott notifies Dr. K that they've arrived.

"We're back" he tells her "and we've brought the stranger. Are you ready to meet him?"

She abruptly stands up from her computer desk in the laboratory and responds.

"Negative, Ranger Red. Keep him right where you are and I will be down to join you."

She rushes to hide various programs from the computer screen and thinks to herself how reckless it was for the rangers to have just brought an unknown and potentially dangerous individual right into their sanctuary and place of residence.

"Nobody's looking at my data" Dr. K says to herself as she heads from the lab to join the others. "I don't care how-"

She makes her way to the garage at the moment Ghest dematerializes his costume off.

"-tall and handsome he is."

She shakes it off, and regains her focus. Ghest's species doesn't classify themselves by race, but he appears to be African American. He decides to start the introductions.

"My name is Fries Mahoghan and in battle, I am called Ghest. I come from a world in another dimension called Diactalon and my people are called Morphozoids. Some criminals from my world decided to travel to Earth and conquer it, so I followed with my family and my teammates, but this was an alternate Earth to this one. I recently learned that my suit's powers include a teleportation ability across other dimensions, so I tested it out and arrived here."

"Alternate worlds?" Dillon skeptically asks. "That's ridiculous."

"On the contrary, Ranger Black" Dr. K interrupts "During my days in Alphabet Soup, I participated in a number of experiments in wormhole technology and researched countless theories on the validity of different worlds occupying the same dimensional space as our own. An ancient legend even spoke of a mythical Sacred Treasure, containing coins that granted their users the means to travel to these places. However, such an item is obviously just a myth."

"Well, maybe it is" Fries says "but I'm telling you the truth. I'm not from here, wherever this actually is. I get the feeling I'm not on Vancouver Island anymore."

"This is Corinth." Scott tells him. "The last place on Earth that Venjix hasn't destroyed."

"Who is Venjix?" Fries asks.

"Venjix is a living computer virus" Summer explains. "Three years ago it took control of the entire planet's computers and unleashed an army of robots to destroy the Earth."

"That's terrible" he responds. "Nothing like that was going on the Earth I came from. Everything there was just, well, normal. And you guys are here to fight them off? Who are you?"

Scott looks surprised. "I thought Ziggy explained all that during the fight with the Grinders."

"He told me that he was your leader and your most powerful member, and you all look up to him."

The others give Ziggy dirty looks.

"You said that?" Scott says, looking directly at Ziggy.

Fries continues. "Yeah, and he added that the girls are all crazy for him."

Summer and Gemma make disgusted faces.

"I would have to be crazy in order for that to occur", replies Dr. K. Ziggy looks disappointed by the response.

"I am Dr. K", she continues. "I invented the Ranger Series technology to defeat Venjix' armies. Scott operates the Series Red morpher, and though he might make decisions that go against my judgement, he has proven himself a capable and effective leader. He is well complimented by Flynn and Summer, respective Series Blue and Yellow operators. Flynn possesses great mechanical ability, and both are driven by their unique hearts. Dillon operates the Series Black morpher, and came to us with no memory of his former life and has been turned part machine by Venjix. Though his attitude may be perceived as "difficult" from time to time, he has left little doubt in our minds to his noble intentions. Gem and Gemma operate the Series Gold and Silver technology, and are my oldest and dearest friends. They stood at my side even when I was facing certain demise at the hands of my captors.

Gem and Gemma grin, as in most situations.

Ziggy clears his throat, and then asks "Aren't you forgetting someone?" in a lighthearted tone.

Dr. K's face instantly turns serious. "Ranger Green does not possess the physical or emotional requirements one would normally hold to wield the Series Green morpher, and his few actual skills, notably the use of shadow puppets and routine running of his mouth, serve little to no assistance in battle. Despite this, he has not been destroyed by Venjix, so is therefore doing something right."

"I assume there was a compliment somewhere in all that" Ziggy replies.

"Okay, that explains who the rangers are, but I still don't know what an attack bot is" says Fries.

"Attack bot?" asks Scott. "What about an attack bot?"

"After I arrived, Tenaya mistook me for an orange ranger, and then said that if I was here to stop her attack bot then I was early."

"Attack bots are highly advanced humanoid combat ready machines that Venjix sends to infiltrate the city and do battle with the rangers" Dr. K explains. "I believe from Tenaya's remarks that one has already been sent.

She starts to run back to the lab.

"I'll track it from my computer. You go on ahead."

The rangers jump into their vehicles and take it to the streets, with Fries flying above.

"Rangers, I've located the attack bot" Dr. K communicates to the team by radio. "It has surfaced from underground just two miles west of you."

The heroes arrive and see the large deadly robot causing havoc. This attack bot in particular is shaped like a giant radiator with arms and legs. The rangers and Fries morph into their costumes, the rangers using their morphers and Ghest at will. As the robot turns to face them, Gem and Gemma take out their Cloud Hatchet daggers. From where they stand, Gem shoots a blast of energy with his at the attack bot, and Gemma a blast of ice. The ice blast disappears on route, and the energy blast has little to no effect. Ziggy summons his Turbo Axe and runs in to do battle with the robot. The closer he gets, the more uncomfortable things get for him.

"Whoa, who turned up the heat?" he remarks.

It's so hot near the robot that he can barely manage to lift the axe, but when he does he notices something disturbing: The blade is slightly melting. He runs back to the others before it can get damaged further.

"Guys, I could barely get close to it", he tells them. "It was like a blast furnace."

Scott, Flynn and Summer combine the Street Saber, Turbo Cannon and Zip Charger into the larger Road Blaster. They fire at the robot, but the blast diminishes on the way just like the dagger blasts did. They got the attack bot's attention with the attempt, and it shoots a long stream of fire at them. Dillon runs ahead of everyone right in the path of the flame and activates his suit's invincibility shield to protect himself and the others. The shield only lasts for five seconds, which was barely enough to outlast the stream.

"I'll handle this" Ghest tells the rangers. "The Ghest force is heat based. I can take that kind of pressure."

He hovers above the ground and flies right in the robot's path. It releases more flames, and Ghest flies higher to dodge them.

"Spikes of Fury!"

He activates his blades and uses them strike the robot from several corners, disabling it's flamethrower. Ghest lands and fires one of his own heat blasts to finish him off. The robot falls behind him and explodes.

From it's factory lair, the Venjix virus is monitoring the battle.

"Begin the download!" it commands.


	3. Chapter 3

The Furnace Bot is instantly resurrected and is now giant-sized, towering over the heroes.

"I kill him and he GROWS?" Ghest asks in confusion. "That is seriously messed up."

The attack bot's heat has grown even more powerful as well, and the rangers are already starting to feel exhausted and uncomfortable.

"If we don't stop it soon, we're going to melt out here" says Summer.

"How can we get close enough to it now?" asks Flynn. "It feels like a desert."

"I still have the best chance of taking the heat", Ghest points out to the rangers.

"Fries, don't", Scott tries to tell him. "We need to call our-"

Ghest took off into the air before the Red Ranger could say the word "zords", which he wouldn't have understood anyway. He flies around the giant robot's chest and arms like a tiny insect and fires off heat blasts at it's arms and face, which are too small to be effective whatsoever. The Furnace Bot swings it's right arm in an attempt to swat Ghest away. It missed, just barely. The magnitude and close proximity of the robot's heat is beginning to affect Ghest, but he tries to fight the feeling and keep trying to find a way to win. He lands on the robot's giant shoulder and starts blasting the neck. Ghest is startled when the robot turns it's head sharply and fires off a laser beam from it's eye right at him, sending him hurtling towards the ground.

Before the attack bot can react, the red, blue and yellow High Octane Megazord, piloted by Scott, Flynn and Summer, runs right up and strikes it with it's super saber. The Furnace Bot reels from the hit right in the path of the mostly orange Valve Max Megazord, controlled by Dillon and Ziggy. It raises it's green Tail Spinner arm and slashes the attack bot with it, and uses it's black Wolf Cruiser arm to fire lasers. The megazord's torso resembles a large crocodile head, and it's mouth opens and bites the Furnace Bot. The rangers know that continued exposure to the intense heat will make even their zords melt, so it's time to finish it off. Gem and Gemma's gold, silver and blue Mach Megazord stands to deliver it's attack. As it's arms (made up of the two flying zords used to blow up the grinders earlier) form a crossbow, it's torso (a whale's mouth) shoots an arrow made of energy at the attack bot. It falls to the ground and explodes.

The rangers find Ghest unconscious on the street and take him back to the laboratory. After sleeping for a few hours, Fries stirs himself awake on a bed and hears an argument going on between Dr. K and Dillon. Not wanting to get involved, he pretends to still be asleep.

"I'm just saying, we should ask him when he wakes up."

"My answer is no, Ranger Black. You can't ask that of Fries. It's too dangerous."

"But we may never have a chance like this again. We just need him to get inside."

"And if he is outnumbered until the rest of you can arrive? What happens then?"

Scott listens to both side and speaks up.

"Dillon has a point. Venjix won't be as prepared for an attack on it's fortress from Ghest. But Dr. K's right. He's not from this world. This isn't his fight."

Fries sits up, revealing that he's awake and has been listening in.

"You're saying you want me to invade Venjix's own fortress?"

"If we go, he'll be able to detect our ranger technology" Dillon explains. "But an attack from you will catch them off guard, and we'll arrive later to help."

"You don't have to agree to it, Fries" Dr. K pleads. "It could still be a dangerous mission."

"You were right, Doctor. I'm not from this world and this isn't my fight. But as long as I am here, I'm still devoted to defeating the forces of evil. I accept the mission."

Dillon starts to smile wide, until calming down.

Scott interjects. "All right, but not 'til tomorrow, after we've had some rest."

Dillon leaves the room. Scott helps Fries up from the bed to his feet.

"I just have one question I need to ask" Fries says to him. "When we dismantle Venjix for good, are you guys ready for who we might find waiting in the wings?"

"What do you mean?

"I'm just saying it's been my experience with fighting the supervillains on my world that after the ones we know about are taken care of, there's an even worse evil mastermind behind to deal with."

Scott quickly turns to Dr. K and then back to answer Fries. "No need to worry about that. Venjix is the big bad."

"But he's a machine. How do we know whoever created him is done unless we find and stop them?"

Scott says with clenched teeth "Leave it alone."

Dr. K starts to cry. She turns and runs out of the room.

"What did I say?" Fries asks in confusion.

"Dr. K created Venjix" Scott tells him. "You couldn't have known, so I'm sure she isn't mad. It's just kind of a sensitive subject."

Scott leaves the room too, leaving Fries to wish he was still comatose. Maybe not that bad, but he does feel really terrible for calling her evil and making her cry. He stays in the bed, but is unable to sleep. After a few hours he decides to head down to the kitchen. He enters to find a cupboard door wide open, with someone behind it. It's Dr. K, in her pajamas. She closes it, and is startled to see Fries standing there. She tries to speak, but her mouth is stuffed with marshmallows. After chewing and swallowing…..

"Fries, I didn't expect to find you still up at this hour."

Fries' eye is drawn down to the doctor's feet, and her slippers with dog heads in the front.

"K, I want to apologize about before."

She grows tense.

"Please address me as Dr. K. K is simply the codename I was given by my handlers in the government think tank Alphabet Soup. I do not remember my life before they took me from it, nor do I remember my true name."

"I'm sorry, Dr. K." Fries put extra emphasis on the word doctor, not wanting to upset her any further. "I want you to know I didn't mean to accuse you of being evil. I had no idea you created Venjix. Was it an experiment that got out of hand?"

She shakes her head. "No, it wasn't like that. I had spent my entire childhood in Alphabet Soup, and every year on my birthday…… wait, not even my birthday. It was the anniversary of the day I was "recruited". I would ask to go outside, and they would always refuse. So I designed a sentient virus and unleashed it on the facility to engineer my escape. However, Venjix would then spread itself all over the planet until it became like this. All because I just wanted to go outside. I heard what you said to Scott, and it made me consider that perhaps I was evil."

"Dr., I know that isn't true. Venjix was a mistake, but you also created the Power Ranger technology, and they've saved lives and defeated countless threats. You've more than made up for your past."

Dr. K smiles, moves closer and gives him a big hug.

"You know, I'm a doctor too", Fries says, trying to impress her. "When my team and I defended Vancouver Island, the University of Victoria thanked us by awarding us honorary doctorates in Morphozoid studies."

"That isn't quite the same as earning a degree."

Just then a black hole opens up right in front of them.

Fries believes it to somehow be one of his teammates who has the power to teleport through these holes.

"Morgue?"

Instead of a friend, a tall, muscular man dressed entirely in dark blue steps from the portal. Dr. K notices Fries growing tense from this man's arrival.

"Augmentor!"


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm glad you have not forgotten my name, Mahoghan. I certainly have not forgotten about the last time we met."

Fries just stares sternly at him, not trying to show any emotion whatsoever.

His enemy speaks on. "You thought you could strand my evil in the void of limbo, but you underestimate my hatred for you and all who practice goodness. It was our destiny to meet again in this way."

Fries doesn't turn his head, but speaks to Dr. K. "You need to get out of the room. Warn the rangers."

She nods and quickly moves behind him to the doorway. The Augmentor sees this and chooses now as the time to strike. He instantly rises a few feet in size, his eyes glowing red and his sharp, ravenous teeth becoming more visible through his mask. He attempts to leap right over Fries, to attack the doctor on her way out the door.

"RRAAUUGHH!"

Just as quickly, Fries transforms into Ghest and leaps in the air, catching Augmentor mid-leap and pushing him against the ceiling before throwing him hard back down to the floor.

"Spikes of Fury!"

With the blades from his wrists activated, Ghest raises his arms in front of his body to defend himself. Augmentor isn't going to be intimidated, however. He charges toward Ghest. Once realizing that he will be trampled if he doesn't react, Ghest tries to take his enemy off his feet, but Augmentor is too big and moving too fast, so Ghest ends up being tackled to the ground. From there, Augmentor relentlessly punches Ghest repeatedly on the floor. With Augmentor's superior strength pinning him to his back, Ghest is trapped and starts to black out from the assault.

Suddenly, violin music can be heard around them. As it gets louder, the Augmentor's beating starts to lesson as he becomes disoriented. Ghest looks over and sees the source. It is Dr. K, playing an experimental violin that produces sonic waves as she plays it. Augmentor starts to back off and attempts to guard his ears from the noise, allowing Ghest to recover and join the good doctor at her side. She plays it harder and harder, with the waves forming strong winds. Dr. K has used this in the past against the rangers' enemies, but not on someone in Augmentor's weight class. To increase the winds, Dr. K just keeps on playing as hard as she possibly can. She saws so hard with the bow that one of the strings snaps, but she can't stop until Augmentor is off his feet.

"I told you to get to safety and wake up the rangers!" Ghest shouts to her over the sound of the music.

"I did not want to abandon you!" She shouts back. "Additionally, this should serve sufficiently to wake them up!"

She was right, and the two of them are soon joined by the seven RPM rangers.

"People, this is one of my enemies from back home!" Ghest shouts at the rangers. "We have to get him outside the building! He may try to grow larger and bring the whole place down!"

"Do you have a plan?" Scott asks, shouting.

"I thought maybe Ziggy could teleport him outside!" Ghest answers.

"What?" Ziggy asks.

Ghest repeats his idea louder. "I said 'WE NEED YOU TO TELEPORT HIM OUTSIDE!"

"I heard you the first time! I'm just asking why do I have to be the one to go near the big scary guy?

"Gentlemen, my violin's strings are breaking. We need a decision", Dr. K points out.

Scott taps Ghest on the back.

"Fries, my suit has the ability to store energy for a three-second burst attack. I could take him outside through the wall."

"Good idea. I've got your back. Ziggy, you make yourself useful and take Dr. K to safety.

Ziggy turns to the doctor. "Are you going to let him talk to me that way?"

Dr. K disengages the violin and screams "YES!" right at him as she takes hold of his arm and pushes the teleportation button for him, sending them both away.

With no more loud music or winds, Augmentor is regaining his focus.

"Burst Attack!"

Energy surrounds Scott as he runs with Ghest to Augmentor and the two heroes push him out through the wall. The others regroup around Scott and Ghest outside as the Augmentor gets up from the ground.

"If he grows any larger, we'll give him a taste of our megazords" Scott says to Ghest.

"No. I started this, I'll finish it."

He steps ahead of the rangers and faces Augmentor head on. A black cloak starts to grow from Ghest's shoulders and the top two corners retract forward and bind his enemy, wrapping him in it's darkness.

"What are you doing?" Scott asks him.

"I can also extend the Ghest powers into a cloak." He answers. "The last time I brought it out one of my enemies was able to separate it from me and use it for himself, but I need it to try something."

Ghest suspects he may be able to use his dimensional teleporting ability through the cloak, and is attempting to use it now to send Augmentor away from this world. He focuses it's energy on sending him away, until the enemy vanishes completely. Ghest falls to his knees and turns back to Fries. The rangers de-morph as well, and Gem and Flynn help Fries to his feet from both sides. Things settle down and Fries speaks with Dr. K in the lab.

"Doctor, I've changed my mind about Dillon's idea to attack Venjix's fortress. I shouldn't be a part of it."

"I thought you already understood the risk involved with the plan. What has changed?"

"One of my strongest and deadliest enemies found his way here and attacked this place. What if I wasn't here when he arrived? Maybe the rangers could have beaten him on their own, but they shouldn't be forced to deal with my past mistakes. I thought I was helping you by arriving here, instead I brought nothing but trouble."

"And you took responsibility of the situation by casting him out once more. You've done nothing wrong. What does this have to do with the planned attack?"

"It has everything to do with it. Maybe one man isn't meant to have the power to go to other worlds without understanding how and why. Maybe I'm not meant to be that man. But what I can do is prevent any other disaster to this world. I'm going home."

Dr. K is stunned by this announcement.

"I'm sorry" Fries adds.

"Don't be." Dr. K responds. "I always understood you had nothing to gain from staying here, and that you should have no obligation to help us just because we were in danger."

"You do understand. I want to protect you from more incidents like the one with Augmentor."

She nods in understanding.

"We should inform the rangers that the attack is cancelled. They will not hold it against you."

"I hope not."

And as Ghest explains everything he just shared with Dr. K to the others, most of them do choose to respect his decision. Dillon proves to be the exception.

"You're just going to give up? Our plan will work! We just need you to do play your role."

Fries tries to calm him down.

"You'll find another way to defeat Venjix. I don't belong with you. I'm not a ranger."

"You sure got that right!"

He storms out of the room, straight to the garage. He gets in his car and drives out on his own.


	5. Chapter 5

Almost 20 minutes have gone by since Dillon drove out of the rangers' headquarters, frustrated that Fries is no longer willing to assist in a planned attack on Venjix. Fries believes his decision is justified, for though he is part of a team back in his home dimension, he worries about being a liability to the Power Rangers in there environment. After staying to repair damage caused during the Augmentor battle, he will soon be returning home.

"You don't think Dillon will go off and attack on his own, do you?" he asks the others.

"Dillon's brave, but he knows it would never work", answers Summer. "When we first offered him the job of black ranger, he nearly left Corinth. He spent some time sitting in his car thinking before deciding to do the right thing in the end. We all knew he would come back-"

Scott interrupts. "Speak for yourself. And it was MY car he took."

Summer resumes. "Anyway, once Dillon calms down, he'll realize that this isn't the end of the world and that we'll figure out another way to bring his sister back."

"Sister?" Fries asks. "Venjix is holding Dillon's sister?"

"It's not quite so easy as that, boyo", Flynn explains. "Venjix held them both captive, as well as other human slaves. Dillon escaped, but his sister was altered."

"You remember Tenaya, from the Grinder fight?" Scott asks Fries.

"Her? She's Dillon's sister?"

"I know, we were totally shocked too" adds Ziggy. "On the one hand, it's really tragic, but on the other hand, it's some good news, because she's like, kind of a babe, and I couldn't do anything about it because, you know, she's evil and it would be wrong, but now it sort of gives me hope that….. that…."

Ziggy notices the others giving him a 'shut up, Ziggy' look and he stops talking.

Dr. K returns.

"Fries, could I speak to you alone in the lab, please?"

"Sure, doctor."

When they get there, Dr. K speaks her mind right before they even sit down.

"Fries, as you plan to leave soon, I must address some personal queries before I lose the opportunity to voice them. Firstly, as normal people might phrase it, are you currently 'seeing anyone'?"

"I'm not sure I follow you, doc."

"Do you have a romantic interest in your life? A girlfriend or wife?"

"Yes, actually. I'm very much in love with Laura Winston, one of my teammates. I hope you aren't disappointed with that."

"No. I calculated that as a very strong possibility, as you seem to enjoy my company but never took things between us beyond the friendship level."

"Is there anything else, doctor?"

Dr. K steps directly in front of Fries. She then places her hands on the sides of his face and gently pulls him closer to her. She leans in and kisses him softly for three seconds. When she pulls back away, Fries isn't upset or offended, just surprised.

"Why did you do that when you knew I already had a girlfriend?"

"Like I said previously, I would soon lose the opportunity once you left, and you may tell Laura that I kissed you without any knowledge on your part, and it will be the truth. You may also tell her that I couldn't control my emotions. As she has never met me, she will not know that that is false."

Fries smiles. "I won't forget you, Dr. K. My species isn't even supposed to fall in love, but I have and I know one day you will too, maybe even with someone you may not have even thought of before one moment."

The door opens and Ziggy walks in. Dr. K looks at him and just stands there for a little while. The others follow.

"Dr. K?" He waves his hand in front of her face. "Dr. K, did you hear me?"

She stops thinking. "You were saying something, Ranger Green?"

"I was saying, Colonel Truman just called. The city's shields have been losing power since we fought the furnace bot."

Dr. K forms an immediate theory. "It's purpose must have been to damage the power grid."

"You mean Venjix is going to invade Corinth?" Fries asks.

"If that was the plan, the invasion would have already started by now. I believe Venjix has a new plan. Not to attack the city directly, but to wait for us to make a move."

"Which we would have done", reasons Scott "if we hadn't been occupied just now with the Augmentor."

"Exactly."

Summer grows tense and more concerned. "You guys, what if they got to Dillon? We have to get out there."

"Wait" orders Dr. K. "I need Flynn, Gemma and Fries to remain here."

Scott addresses Ziggy, Summer and Gem. "Well, as for the rest of us, let's get moving."

As the others morph, Gem makes a pouting face. He doesn't separate from his sister often. After looking back at Gemma, Dr. K relents.

"All right Gem, you can stay as well, but we need to work quickly for the others sake. We're about to experiment with the bio-field technology in a way never before attempted. Fries, you are worried about being a liability to us, but if this proves successful then you will have no need to worry about that again. Now let's get to work."

Scott, Summer and Ziggy arrive in front of the Station 19 gas vents, where Dillon had gone before to sulk in his car (sorry, Scott's car) previously, but they just find the car empty. They search it, but before they can speculate on where Dillon had gone, they get blasted where they stand by heavy fire from above. They look up to see Venjix' air assault vehicles, piloted by Grinders, circling in the air, and several land assault vehicles headed towards them.

"We need the zords", says Scott.

"Wait", Summer interrupts. "Do you hear that? More Grinders."

They turn around behind them to see an army of the robot soldiers joined by Tenaya and Venjix' generals' Kilobyte and General Crunch, who is carrying a weary Dillon. He tosses Dillon to the ground, and the others run to help him up to his feet. The robots have them surrounded from every side.

"Whatever you're working on, Dr. K", Scott says "Better make it fast."


	6. Chapter 6

The four rangers understand that Dr. K's brilliant plans are often worth waiting for, but due to the great number of opponents they face, they may not be able to hold out waiting for her or the other members of their team for much longer.

The exhausted Dillon is surrounded by Grinders and drops to his knees. The robots are slashed aside by Ziggy's Turbo Axe. General Crunch moves toward them, extending a spinning buzzsaw from his torso and laughing maniacally.

"Want to sit this one out, Dillon?"

"No…….. I can handle this clown" he answers, rising back on his feet..

General Crunch laughs harder. "Handle that, power punks!"

He points his finger into the air. They look up to just in time for an air assault vehicle to shoot at them.

Summer is fighting off Grinders from all sides and gets shot at by Kilobyte's plasma cannon.

"Weak, useless female" Kilobyte sneers. Tenaya shoots him a look, having been insulted by his chauvinistic attitudes before, but is more focused on the fight at hand. She readies her staff and leaps into battle with Scott. He uses his Streak Saber to deflect her attacks, but in doing so leaves himself open to shots from more Grinders.

Monitoring the battle from his fortress in the desert, Venjix orders the air and land assault drones to land and join the growing army of Grinder robots circling the rangers. Summer looks above the row of Grinders directly in their path, and notices what appears to be a minor parting of the way leading to them.

"Something's happening, you guys. It's like something's trying to get through to us."

Scott looks to his right. "It's coming from this way too." Dillon sees it happening on the left.

The parting reaches them as Flynn, Gem and Gemma emerge from each direction.

"We're glad to see you guys" Scott tells them. "Where's Fries? And what's Dr. K's big idea?"

Flynn starts to explain. "Dr. K thought we could use a wee bit of extra punch, so she brought out an untested morpher she designed a long time ago to go along with the Croc Carrier Zord. She didn't have the proper time to adapt it to the Bio-field like our morphers, but she found a suitable power source to activate it."

"What kind of power source?"

"Fries' Ghest powers. With our help, Dr. K infused the Ghest with crocodile DNA from the bio-field to temporarily use the morpher, sort of like how she converted Venjix' doomsday machine into the Whale Zord."

As the rest of the explanations are getting out of the way, Fries runs from the corner of the next block over towards the action, speaking to the Doctor using the communicator on his brand new wrist morpher.

"I'm here, Dr. K. How do I activate my new suit?"

"Insert the Engine Cell into your morpher and hold the button as you shout the morphing call 'RPM get in gear'."

He takes the small power chip-like device and inserts it into the appropriate slot. Still running, he brings his right arm up to the side of his head and makes the call, as his other hand pushes the button. Instead of the Ghest costume, an orange-coloured ranger uniform materializes over him.

"It worked, Doc."

"Excellent. Good luck, Ranger Series Orange."

"How about we stick to Ghest? Or even Ranger Ghest?"

"Acceptable."

Some members of the outer layer of Grinders surrounding the rangers noticed the flash of light from Fries morphing and turned around to see what was going on. Fries takes to the air and flies past them into the circle to join the rangers.

"Wow, you look awesome!" Summer exclaims.

"This'll even the odds", Dillon adds.

"Thanks you guys", Fries responds back.

"As long as there's no confusion about who's red and who's orange", Scott says with a smile.

They are interrupted by the whistled tune of The Farmer in the Dell. Knowing that the tune is one of Tenaya's calling cards to stalk her enemies, the rangers look around for her. They can't see her within the Grinder army.

"Only one way to finish this: We have to fight our way through", instructs Scott.

Fries nods. "I agree with you there. But thanks to the Doctor, I have a better way for us to do that."

"How?"

"Just like your ranger suits, Dr. K enabled mine to manipulate space time in a certain way. In my case, telepathy."

He activates that function on his morpher.

"Is it working? I don't feel any different", Ziggy asks.

A Grinder aims it's blaster at his back, but before it fires it is shot by Summer's Nitro Blaster. Another one reaches for Scott's shoulder, but is blocked off by Gemma. Dillon feels the urge to fire his Rocket Blaster over his shoulder, not aiming properly or looking at the shot, and it nailed two who were looking to strike Flynn.

"You see how it works now? We can sense every move they'll make to attack us and defend ourselves and each other before they do it."

"We've got our advantage, now let's get them!" Scott orders.

Fries summons orange blades to his arms, like on the regular Ghest suit and begins slicing through Grinders. Sensing danger from behind, he hovers straight up into the air and avoids enemy fire. He removes the blades and combines them together into a lance-like throwing weapon and just throws it in an arbitrary way. It hits several Grinders that Fries had not even had to look at.

Flynn and Summer stand across from each other wielding Nitro Blasters. Summer fires a blast towards Flynn's head. He dodges it effortlessly and it hits some Grinders approaching from behind him. He does the same and takes out a group stalking Summer.

"This is fun!" Flynn remarks.

"Like having a sixth sense", Summer adds.

Ziggy swings his Turbo axe into the air. It perfectly splits a Grinder right in half as it lands. Several more Grinders try to stop him as he runs to get it, but none land a blow thanks to his dodging, weaving and blocking.

"I've been closing my eyes this entire time!" Ziggy exclaims. "I'm loving this!"

As Dillon fights more Grinders, General Crunch emerges and tries to strike him without success. As the buzzsaw lunges at him again, Dillon chops it in the right spot to break it off.

"Give up", Dillon warns him.

"No way!" is his answer, a second before he's struck down by Fries' blades.

Tenaya jumps out at Dillon with her staff, but soon falls to sleep. Fries joins them.

"Ghest's telepathy was able to reach the part of her mind that's still human. It was too complex to reorganize, so I've just put her to sleep for now."

Dillon gently lowers her to the ground, and returns with Fries to the battle.

Scott, Gem and Gemma form a perimeter around Kilobyte. He tries to shoot them with his weapon, but to no avail. As he takes a moment to regroup behind a building corner, he jumps out and lets loose a barrage of heavy fire. He is shocked (as much as a machine can be) when he realizes his shots hit the remaining Grinders, but no power rangers.

"Over here, Kilobyte!"

The general turns to the sound of Scott's voice and finds the Road Blaster and Dillon and Ziggy's Turbo Plasma Launcher in his face. Behind the core rangers, Gem and Gemma aim their Cloud Hatchets and Fries readies his blades. The rangers fire all weapons at once. Kilobyte survives, and calls a retreat to anyone remaining.

The Rangers return to the lab, where Ghest returns the Series Orange morpher to Dr. K, who restores the Ghest to normal. As he prepares to go home, he says his goodbyes to the rangers.

"Dillon, I am sorry I can't stay to help you rescue your sister" Ghest apologizes.

"It's okay, pal" Dillon responds. "We'll manage to defeat Venjix sooner or later on our own. You've got your own mission to get back to."

"Yes, but it's been an honor meeting you all, especially you Dr. K."

She smiles. "The feeling is mutual. After all, we doctors should befriend one another."

Fries smiles back and gives her a big hug. The others stand away as he begins the teleportation charge, and disappears.

Epilogue Ending

Taking place after Danger and Destiny part 2 (series finale)

After Venjix was finally defeated, Summer and Dillon chose to travel out into the world, helping other people and places recover from the attacks any way they can. Joined by Dillon's sister Tenaya, they pull the car over on the road leading to the city of Turtle Cove. They get out and wander over to a roadside bar. As Dillon opens the door to the place, they see body parts and circuits of defeated Grinders scattered on the floor and over the bar's pool table.

"No matter how many towns we visit" Dillon starts up "it still amazes me how, even with us fighting from inside Corinth, people were able to defend themselves from attacks to the point where there's been minimal damage."

"Look at this mess" Summer points out. "Whoever was here was more than a match for the attack bots."

They hear a faint sound coming from a back closet, and a dark-haired man in an undershirt walks out. Upon seeing the three, he enters into a martial arts stance.

"Who are you people?"

Summer raises her arms forward to try and calm him down. "It's okay. We come in peace. The Venjix attack is over."

The man falls to his knees.

"Are you alright?" Tenaya asks him.

He doesn't answer. He drops an object he was carrying to the floor and covers his head with both hands. The object is a mask with a wolf-like face design.

To be continued in the upcoming Four Wolves.


End file.
